The Zingrods had Billy Taylor, so they also had Mathews. See Dan Miceli.

The good news: The Mets traded for Billy Taylor, and as frequent visitors to this site already know, the Zingrods owner is a real-life Mets fan.

The bad news: The Mets already have two closers (Franco and Benitez) who are better than Taylor, so Taylor goes into a setup role.

The good news: The Zingrods had Mathews in case anything happened to Taylor.

The bad news: The A's gave the closer job to Doug Jones, not Mathews.

The good news: Jones is over the hill. Another blown save or two and Mathews will get the job after all. Trust me.

Update 10-14-1999: The bad news: the A's got Isringhausen. Mathews was released. End of story.